Life after death
by VaingloriousHound
Summary: An AU short story just after Voldemort died. Drama and Romance. HG!
1. Chapter 1

**Life after Death  
**

"-hit me and I died. Just like that. My soul, I... I could feel it leaving. Do you know what that feels like? Well, I hope not. Anyways, it was strange. Dying in itself may cause pain. The burning, the tearing and all that. But the very moment I died? No, no pain. It was ... elation, I guess. Pure relief. Freedom! Soothing and cool it took everything. Every scrap and every sin, every burden and every lie. Free. That's what I was."

"But you are here."

"Indeed. I choose pain over salvation. Why I did that? Well, that's the weird part. Usually, you do not choose, you just die. Ghosts are something different. Their life prevents their souls from departing. So the pain of life still haunts them in death. There is a reason that those recalled with the resurrection stone want to be dead. After all, death is a wonderful thing."

"So how come you are here then?"

"Ah, yes. Well, I had a choice, because I carried the hallows. All three of them. Well I was the rightful owner of the elder wand even with Tom having it. So I was given a choice. And, well, with the choice there things were different. Yes, I could have escaped the pain, the torture the loss of my bloody arm but... I could die later, you know? All my family, Fred too, they all where their. I could see them, hear them. They where free. No regret, no pain."

"F-Fred was...happy? Good... I..."

"Ron, Death is different from what you imagine. Everyone dies. If you don't, you didn't life in the first place. Fred had no regrets. Neither had Remus and Tonks and all the others. They all know that it was unfortunate and all of them wanted to live, but when death comes, you accept. As easy as that."

"Harry, I don't... What did you do?"

"I told you. I choose to die sometime else."

"But the others..! Couldn't they have..?"

"No, they couldn't. There was no choice for them. I choose to return to you. All of you. Hermione, Luna, Neville, you parents. And Ginny. If not for Ginny, death would have been too tempting."

"What! You would have wasted the choice because of my bloody sister?"

"Yes."

"What the fuck, you bloody..!"

"You do not understand, Ron. I was offered absolute freedom and the ability to meet my parents, Sirius and Dumbledore. No pain, no tears. It was perfect..."

"You-! I-!"

"In the end, you don't have to understand. You will, once you die someday and maybe it's better if you don't. It's... tempting, you know? I have seen what it is like. Ginny is literally all that kept me. I could not live without her. Fact is, had I chosen to die, she would have to live without me, something I could not do to her."

"Fine. Fine! You, bloody lord of death, what the fuck happened after the wedding? After they took you?"

"Ron. Do you think they just let me go?"

"Well... no."

"9 Months, Ron, is a long time. Yesterday was the very first time I saw the sun in all this time. You see the scars, the missing arm. Ron? What do you _think_ had happened? The fact that my eyes can see and I still am a man is some kind of miracle, really. And the fact that I'm sane? Ginny's responsible for that. As I am responsible that she's alive and relatively unharmed."

"Unharmed!? The used the Curciatus on her!"

"They had me, Ron. They wanted to do worse. Rape her before me, gut her and feed me her remains. I did not loose the arm by accident! For every attempt they aborted I had to give half an inch. Finger by finger... Can you imagine it? Bellatrix and her knife? ...No, you can't. I sure hope you can't."

"Damn... I..."

"I know. It's over now. I just want to go and find Ginny. I believe she saw me chained to the stake? When they presented my "body"?"

"Yeah, I haven't seen her since. Does she even know you aren't dead?"

"I don't know. Although, I was dead for a time..."

"Mate, please. Stop that."

"Yeah, I better. I'll find you later."

"... Bloody hell..."

Ronald Weasley, since about half an hour war veteran, watched Harry Potter walk out of the hospital wing. It had been nine month and a week or so since he had last seen his best friend. Within these months, terrible things must have happened. He and Hermione Granger had no choice but to hunt down the horcruxes left all over the country by Lord Voldemort. These evil little tokens had tied the madman to the realm of the living, making him immortal. The worst things was, they had failed. They destroyed the locket that once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, the cup of Helga Huffelpuff but it wasn't enough. From Harry they knew that the diary that possessed Ginny had been one and that Dumbledore destroyed another, leaving the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw. They never managed to find it. Did that mean that Voldemort was still alive? Ron shuddered at the thought. No, Harry wouldn't have let that happen. Surely, Harry took care of it. Ron sighed. He needed to find Hermione.

Harry limped out of the hospital wing, pointedly ignoring Madame Pomfrey's shouts and curses. He needed to find Ginny. He had done it. Riddle was gone and Harry lived. The prophecy was fulfilled. Done. Over. But the world lay in shambles. The ministry was but a pile of rubble and burned papers, Hogwarts was the ruin it appeared to be to non magical people and Harry himself took a whole lot of scars with him from this war. If he was honest, he was surprised he could still walk. The amount of blood he had lost over the last few weeks was inhuman, his vision still swam from time to time. He dared not mentioned it to Madame Pomfrey. Never would he leave the hospital bed again, he was sure of it. Harry drew his battered and bloody cloak tighter around his left side. The feeling of missing a limb was what reassured him that Ginny was not harmed. It was all that kept him sane then. And all that kept him awake right now. He needed to see Ginny and he was sure where he would find her. She always hid there when it all got too much. He did too, after all.

...

She was alone now. More so than ever. And when she had seen Harry's body chained to the floating stake, impaled by this grotesque black spike, Ginny refused to believe him dead. He couldn't be, he promised to teach her how to become an animagus, promised to let her fly on his firebolt, to go shopping with her, let her cut his hair. He promised to hold her. He promised to be with her! The moment she had seen him there, bloody battered and unresponsive, she ran. Away from it all, away from Tom, for he had once again taken everything from her. She cried, screamed her pain into the empty halls of the chamber of secrets. She screamed until she could no longer, cried until there were no tears left. There, in the very same place Harry had saved her once, she fell unconscious, hoping he would come once again.

 **A/N** : So, that's what I do while I try to figure out what to write for Jane. This weird little piece will end after two chapters and, as you may have noticed, does not follow the original story line. You are free to imagined how the years before played out or what relationship Ginny and Harry had. Just to clear it up: Harry destroyed the diadem and killed Nagini. How? Well, hell if I know. Maybe fiendfire, would be fitting for this wounded and broken Harry.


	2. Chapter 2

**Life after Death  
**

"Where is Harry?"

"He limped off to find Ginny."

"Is he okay? We need to talk to him."

"No... No, Hermione, Harry is definitely not okay. Have you seen him? He's missing a bloody arm! Let the man breath!"

"Of course saw that Ron! How could I not? I asked, if he's fine despite-"

"Bloody hell, woman! He has been tortured for the last nine months! Just leave him to heal for now!"

"Ron! He needs to-"

"Hermione! Be quiet, for once, be bloody quiet! Leave Harry alone for now! If he needs to talk, he will come to us!"

Hermione backed away. Ron hadn't ever argued back that fiercely before. The last nine month had been a terrible episode of running and fighting. They even broke into Gringotts. She still had the scar from the dragon fire on her forearm. Never would she forget how the locket had nearly manipulated her into strangling Ron to death, the marks were still visible. But now, it was all over. Voldemort was dead. Hermione wasn't sure how he had fooled the death eaters into believing him dead, but for the first time ever, she didn't want to ask how. She was afraid that it was something disturbing and reckless. She left Ron to be drawn in by his family. Missing was Ginny. All the other... _living_ Weasleys were there. Hermione had seen Ginny break down and run away when the death eaters marched out of the forbidden forest, Harry chained to a stake. They carried him before them like a flag displaying their victory. That was another image she wouldn't get rid of easily.

Hermione, much unlike Ron, didn't really wonder why Harry would seek Ginny. Towards the end of her second year, she walked down into the common room because she left a book behind she had wanted to read. Hermione was quite surprised to find Harry and Ginny in front of the fire. She had been determined to tell them to go back into their room, it had been well past curfew. But she caught snippets of their conversation before she said anything. Harry and Ginny talked about their nightmares. Mostly Harry though, it seemed like Ginny was only listening. He told her that he still dreamed of waking up in that cupboard again where he would simply starve to death or how he would wake up gasping for air because the possessed Quirrel was strangling him. Hermione had backed away, unwilling to intrude or spy even more details of things she shouldn't have heard. Even after Hermione had left, Ginny didn't talk. In fact, she only shared her nightmares with Harry on the night before they left for summer holidays. She talked the whole night and, like her, Harry said not a word. He just listened and let her talk. It was in Harry's third year that he asked questions about her dreams, like she would question him. With the mess Sirius and the dementors caused, they sat before the fire talking nearly every night. It had been Ginny who taught Harry the charm he used against the dragon in his first task, to sew it's eyes shut. She was also the hostage he rescued from the black lake and the first to rush to him when he returned with the body of Cedric after Voldemort had been resurrected.

Ginny and Harry organized the DA, though Ginny stayed in the background. When Sirius died, she refused to leave his side and Dumbledore was forced to stun her to get her from Harry, who in turn also had to be stunned after someone dared raise his wand against Ginny. With everyone subtly avoiding Harry, for fear of possession, and in between horrific occlumency lessons, Ginny was Harry's pillar of support, even going so far that she sneaked into the astronomy tower when Harry and Dumbledore returned from their attempt to destroy Tom's locket. She saw Albus die, she grieved with Harry and the two of them stayed within the others arms reach until he was forced to leave. It was the morning of Bill's wedding when he finally, officially, confessed his love to Ginny. Had Fred not walked in on them, they probably wouldn't have made it to the reception. When the death eaters attacked, it all went to hell. Harry pushed Ginny out of the way of a killing curse just as he was grabbed from behind and aparated away. It was the last time anyone had seen Harry until they presented him on the stake at the battle of Hogwarts.

"Harry Potter is dead!" Hermione remembered the amplified voice of Voldemort ringing through every square inch of Hogwarts. Her heart had stopped when she had seen Harry and the dread in her stomach caused her to nearly empty her stomach. But Harry wasn't dead.

When Voldemort stalked up and down the assembled students and other wizards, Harry suddenly exploded into motion. The black spike that had pinned him to the wood, Harry ripped it out of his gut, producing a wet squelch Hermione would never forget, and hurled it at Voldemort. To say the man was surprised was an understatement. Harry's apparent defeat of death seemed to scare the man witless. And the they dueled, though it was more Harry showering Voldemort with raw, angry magic until his body was naught but dust, alongside Voldemort's body, the astronomy tower also vanished into dust. The shock of the annihilation of their lord made the death eaters vulnerable to what Hermione would have called the most powerful serving charm in history. Every single death eater that stood behind Harry was cleaved clean in half in under two seconds. There was only silence following the gruesome show and no one but Ron had even tried to stop Harry from limping into the castle.

 **HP**

It was cold, down in the chamber and it soothed the burning pain all over his body to some extend. AS Harry expected, the door to the chamber of secrets was already open meaning Ginny had indeed fled down here. Struggling to keep walking, Harry dragged himself past the columns at the entrance. In front of him he could see the dim light that illuminated the chamber with the statue and in the very middle of it, he spotted a lump of red hair. His breathing hitched, his heart beat faster and he sped up despite the immense pain. Ginny. He needed to talk to her before he fainted, so he had to be fast.

He fell to his knees and kept falling onto his right side, unable to keep himself upright, besides Ginny. She wore one of his old pullovers and a pair of sweat pants he remembered giving her some time ago. His right hand reach out to touch her, feel her warmth, but she was cold.

Dread filled Harry. How long had she been down here in the cold? Not wasting his dwindling time awake, he rolled her from her side onto her back. Ginny's lips were a pale blue and her skin white as snow, her freckles now a stark contrast. His hand wandered from cold cheek to her throat were he unsuccessfully tried to find a pulse. Not yet givving up, Harry moved his hand above her heart, but felt nothing.

Ginny was dead.

Biting down on his tongue, Harry tried to stay calm, find a way to revive her but he broke down besides her. He threw his head back and cried as loud as his lungs could. The tears caused his poor vision to reduce to almost null, and the grief brought his mind to a new low, even lower than when he was tortured by Bellatrix.

Harry snarled. He wouldn't allow this. He hadn't sacrificed so much, endured so much pain, to loose his last hold, his reason to live. He still carried all three hallows, he was still the master of death. Reaching into his robes, he pulled out the elder wand and placed it into Ginny's hand. Awkwardly he pushed the invisibility cloak under her head and placed the resurrection stone onto her chest.

"I surrender everything to Ginny Weasley," he whispered and kissed her one last time before the darkness finally took him.

 **HP**

It was peaceful, if one didn't count the general mayhem Fred and Sirius caused. Lilly had been nice enough to invite her to have tea with her, James and Dumbledore. She would have invited Remus and Tonks too, but they were engrossed in each other. She could only smile at them, but felt a strange irritation then, so she turned back to her tea.

"-and then he fell too his knees and promised her to let her ride his broom if only she'd ask!" James regaled them with a tale Ginny found strangely familiar. "And you know what she said?"

Unconsciously, Ginny nodded and said, "Only if you let me ride the firebolt too."

James laughed so hard he dropped his tea cup. "Yes! Yes! That's exactly what you said! My boy, he was so red, I thought his head might pop!"

Lilly shot him a dirty look and flicked a finger at the broken tea cup. It promptly disappeared. "You weren't any better, _Jamesy,_ you were unable to look me in the eye after you got yourself past my knickers. Oh, and don't forget that, after you were fini-"

The man hopped out of his chair, toppling it in the process. "You wouldn't!" he accused.

"I would, better believe it," Lilly shot back, "So stop teasing her about Harry!"

Ginny frowned. She knew that name. Harry, who... was that? Shouldn't she... be with him?

"That being said," Lilly continued, now looking at Ginny, "Why are you here?"

Her frown deepened. Why indeed? Where was she? How did she end up here? And who was Harry?!

"You... you invited me, I-"

"Ickle Gin-Gin!" Fred's voice startled her. He draped an arm around her shoulder. "I thought you would at least marry him before you got yourself here! Now I can't even brag!"

Marry? Marry who? Harry..? Why would she marry someone she didn't even recognize. She felt strangely cold all of sudden.

"I have said it once, and I will say it again," Sirius said from behind her as he walked over to James and Lilly, "Potters will always fall for the redhead. The father did it, the grandfather did it. The son was no exception!"

Potter? Harry Potter? The name stirred something in Ginny and suddenly her right hand felt warm. She shook her head. "Where exactly are we?" she asked.

James raised an eyebrow at her. "This? Well, the old man over there called it 'the next great adventure' but I like to call it afterlife."

"What?" was all that Ginny managed. Afterlife? She was dead? Why was she dead?!

Lilly spoke again. "And that's exactly our problem. Why are you here?"

"I... I don't know...," she stammered. She blinked when the back of her head felt warm.

Albus Dumbledore, having said nothing as of yet, smiled. "Ah, Miss Weasley. Truly, you are not supposed to be here." She was about to respond when her chest grew warm and she frowned. "It seems, we must ask you to leave, Mr. Potter is calling for you."

In response, Ginny looked at James with raised eyebrows. The man shook his head. "Hey now, I have a redhead already- Ouch! Lilly!"

 ** _"I surrender everything to Ginny Weasley."_**

The sound of the familiar voice made her hole body burn with an intense heat. Ginny gasped, she could feel it, her body, as it lay on the cold stone floor of the chamber. Would she want to return there? To the cold, to the pain? Would she return to a broken world?

A man, clad entirely in black, hood and all, appeared out of nowhere. With his sudden appearance, everything else vanished and Ginny found herself staring at a big glass door. Behind the door was the place she had just come from. The burrow, so she realized.

 _"You have been given a choice, Miss Weasley."_ The voice had her wheel around to the black clad man. He stood in front of a big, wooden gate. It looked worn, had clearly seen better days, but she could feel something behind this door. Someone was there. She shook her head.

"A choice?" Ginny squeaked. The man nodded and pointed at the glass door.

 _"Peace."_ He pointed at the wooden gate. _"Life, with all its hardship."_ The man looked at her, cool grey eyes staring into hers. _"The master of death has surrendered to you, making you the new mistress. Choose, before it is too late."_

As he finished his sentence, the wooden gate splintered, a long crack running though the worn wood.

 _"Return to life or stay here, it is up to you."_

Blinking, Ginny took a look at both doors. Why should she return to pain and hardship, return into a broken world, a broken life?She should just stay here with her brother, with Sirius, Remus, Tonks and Harry's parents-

She froze there, suspended in the dark nothingness. "Harry!" she shouted. The wooden gate gave another loud crack, a piece of the frame came off.

But Harry was dead! She saw the body!

Another loud wooden crack, more wood splintered of the gate.

But who else could be calling her? Who else could make her feel this warmth? She remembered. Ginny remembered her promises, the ones she made and the ones Harry had yet to fulfill. She needed to go back.

Ginny thrust her arms towards the crumbling wooden gateway, but her body didn't move one bit.

 _"Is this your choice?"_ the hooded man asked her.

"Yes, Yes! Dammit yes! I need to go back! I need to-!"

 _"So be it."_

It was the last she had heard before the gate exploded before her eyes and everything went black.

 **HP**

"Good morning, Mr. Potter."

He smiled, how he loved waking up like this, just gentle sound, nothing else.

"Mornin'...," he mumbled and turned onto his side. He didn't expect the jolt of pain. Harry sat up in an instant, suppressing the yowl of pain out of habit.

He blinked, once, twice, but it didn't help. He began to panic as he remembered where he was, or where he was supposed to be. "Ginny!"

His vision cleared as his glasses were pushed onto his nose. "I'm here," came a quiet voice from farther to his right.

His head snapped to the right so fast, he didn't even see Madame Pomfrey at the foot of his bed. "Ginny!"

Completely disregarding his aching body, he threw himself out of the bed, across the gap and right into Ginny's.

"Mr, Potter!" Harry didn't even hear the angry shriek, he only heard the soft giggling of Ginny, who had hastily made room for him on the bed.

"Hey," he breathed.

"Hey," she replied.

"You came back," Harry said, his smile stretching wider with each passing second.

"So did you," Ginny replied, propping herself on her elbows and pushing herself up to get closer to Harry.

"Always." He pressed his forehead against Ginny's.

"Always," she confirmed.

"I love you," both of them whispered before their lips met.

 **HP**

"Lemme give you a hand, mate."

"Oh, Haha, Ron, very funny. You'd think it gets old after the first three hundred times."

"Suck it up, mate. You were the one who asked me to help."

"Indeed. So you better help instead of drinking all of the beer."

"You do realize that there's a spell for that, right?"

"Hermione tell you that?"

"Sod off..."

"Move it, Weasley, the crib isn't going to build itself."

"And I'm telling you, there is a spell that would make it build itself!"

"That's not the same. I'm gonna build this with my own two-... my own hand for my little baby girl."

"Oh, so you confirmed it then?"

"Yeah. With magic though, couldn't risk a normal doctor's office being blown up by all the accidental magic."

"Got a name already?"

"Hmmm... Ginny thinks Rose is a nice name. I'd say so too, family tradition, you know?"

"And if it would have been a boy?"

"Albus Severus."

"... you're kidding, right?"

"Of course I am! What kind of moron would name his child after them!"

"Mate you scared me there for a second..."

"Boys! Dinner's ready!" When dinner was mentioned, Ron flew out of the nursery as fast as he had drunken all the beer Harry had.

Shaking his head, Harry stood, leaving the half finished wooden crib behind, and hurried to the kitchen. After all, he needed to be there before Ron inhaled all the food. Ginny, two months pregnant, met him halfway with a dazzling smile.

"Hey," he said, catching her in his arm.

"Hey," she giggled, kissing his cheek. "Are you ever going to finish the crib? You know, there's a spell for that."

Dramatically, Harry staggered backwards. "You all have no faith in me!" he accused, still smiling.

Ginny shrugged. "Well, the cupboard you built lasted exactly two hours..."

Sighing in defeat, Harry followed Ginny into the kitchen.

The world was still in disarray. Two years after the battle of Hogwarts, the ministry had not yet recovered enough to lead the magical society. A delegation of American wizards and politicians currently ran the wizarding government. They would do so until things had stabilized and the English could take the reigns again. Harry, due to his role in the war, occasionally was called upon to appear in public. For morals sake, he begrudgingly did so a few times but he declined most invitations. Harry was content with his little house, his quiet life. He doubted that it would stay this quiet, he wasn't naive. Bad people were still out there and they didn't really tend to rest. At some point, another crisis would come, but for now, Harry didn't care. He had sacrificed everything once already.

Now it was time to life his life after death.


End file.
